SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY DEFENDED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 14

SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY DEFENDED

“WILL IT PAY?” AVERAGING OF COSTS (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter) PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Friday. Saying that all misconceptions of tho importance and necessity of the South Island Alain Trunk should be removed, the Minister of Railways, the Hon. W. B. Taverner, gave a full explanation of the Government’s intention. The properties to be served by the railway covered an area of approximately 1,039,787 acres, of which the capital value was £2,296,325, and the unimproved value £1,669,742. The total population of the four counties, Sounds, Alarlborough, Awate.re, and Kaikoura, which would be directly served by the railway, was 19,035, the total capital values of the counties being £9,792,684. “The tendency seems to be to take the section from Wharanui to Parnassus by itself and ask ‘Will it pay?’ ” said Air. Taverner. “Now, in the first place, that section must be considered as part and parcel of the South Island Alain Trunk line, and also part and parcel of the national system. It is not similar to a branch line or deadend. The estimated cost has been put down at £32,000 a mile, whereas the Public Works’ estimate is £27,715

a mile, but is it fair to take even the last-mentioned sum as a basis for determining the operating results? It is a matter of historical fact that the line from Hurunui to Bluff, and various branches connected with the line, were built at an average cost of £12,200 a mile, but no one would be foolish enough to conclude that the line through very difficult country in parts of Otago was built at that figure. Why, therefore, single out the line between Wharanui and Parnassus? Should we not rather take the average cost of construction at least from Picton to Christchurch ?” The figures a mile for the whole line were as follow:—Christchurch to Waipara, 40 miles, £15,000; Waipara to Parnassus, 44 miles, £8,681; Parnassus to Wharanui, 78 miles, £27,715; Wharanui to Picton, 56 miles, £12,413 —giving a total cost of £3,837,660 for 218 miles of construction, or an average cost of £17,600 a mile. Referring to the adverse criticism of the proposed railway by Air. H. S. S. Kyle (Riccarton), the Alinister stated that Air. Kyle, with practical experience concerning the transportation of stock, must be aware of the disabilities and great loss suffered by sheep farmers and others in Awatere and Kaikoura districts, and of long drives necessitated by the lack of railway facilities. Air. Taverner continued that the great majority of the South Island people were entirely in favour of the proposed continuation of the line. They were not looking on the matter in any parochial light, but were imbued with a national spirit in a desire that the two islands should be more completely linked.